When Money Can Buy Happiness

Can money buy happiness? It would be nice to give a definite “yes” or “no” making the issue black and white instead of shades of gray. The truth is, however, that it really depends on a number of factors on whether money can buy happiness. Still, there are some indicators which point to areas where money can help with happiness.

When it comes to basic living standards, studies show that money has a great influence on happiness. Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, who works on questions such as the relationship between money and happiness, says studies show that all we need for happiness is to have enough money for the basic necessities of life. If we have enough for

7 Responses to When Money Can Buy Happiness

Thank you. That is a much more nuanced discussion about money and happiness. It separates out the direct relationship and properly associates money, happiness and time, or rather freedom to spend our time as we wish to actually create happiness.

“If you have a lot of money and are able to spend your time any way you want, you’re not going to be happy if you haven’t developed relationships or activities that make you happy. You will simply spend the time wondering how to spend the time — and why you aren’t happy even though you have money.”

I cannot agree more with this statement. Not that I have a lot of money, but I am single and do OK for my day-job, so I have enough to choose where to spend and have the time. However, I woke-up one weekend morning, relieved that I was not going to work, however I was depressed that I had no ideas for what I was going to spend my precious two weekend days doing.

I have come to realize that, despite having the “golden handcuffs” at my current job, living here is really a waste of my life as I don’t have access to things I want to do in this town/area. I spend all of my week waiting for the weekend only to arrive at the weekend and have nothing to do.

It was at that point that I really understood the “money doesn’t buy happiness” thing. Of course, I would not be happy living in a cardboard box in the street, but I also would be willing to make half what I make now as long as I could move to Orlando, cover living expenses, a new computer every 1.5 years or so, and afford annual passes to amusement parks. This vision is driving me to make changes, but it’s tough to give-up a decently-paying, not-very-strenuous job for the “unknown” of a whole new town and life.

Also note that, according to psychological research, relative deprivation/upward social comparisons are a major reason why people in the richest countries are not happier than those in other well-off countries. In other words: we don’t compare ourselves with those who have less than we do. We compare ourselves with those with flashier electronics and more expensive clothing, and in the midst of plenty we think we don’t have enough, contributing to dissatisfaction. Cultivating “enoughness” and seeing the big picture are more important to happiness than any absolute amount of money.